Thread Roulette: Accent (Leila and Nate)

[Event !]

You know, that accent is pretty distinctive.

[Leila Gold]

Milk. It had started with a trip to the store to get milk, because Leila wanted milk for her coffee. And she needed her coffee, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get up in the morning and go to work. But once she was at the store, it seemed stupid to just walk out with a gallon of milk. She grabbed a shopping cart and started going up and down all the aisles, remembering things that she'd meant to pick up last week and forgot.

"Jam," she murmured to herself, placing it in the basket with the bread, milk, and painkillers. "And more sugar, and I should probably get another package of spaghetti..." She was paying so much attention to her shopping that she almost ran into someone with her cart.

"Excuse me," she said, pulling back at the last second. "Wasn't watching where I was going, I guess."

She glanced up at the man in front of her, one of those tall, dark, and handsome types, and she gave him a huge smile. Hey, she told herself inwardly, I'm twenty-eight and an independent adult. I can flirt a little. "Well ain'tchoo just the purtiest thing on the planet?" she said, pulling out her full-on Southern drawl to show that she wasn't being sincere. "Where'd joo spring up from, handsome?" She gave him a wink. If he wasn't interested, he could leave her alone, no harm done.

[Nathanael Lee]

This was the first time Nate had gone grocery shopping in Pilot Ridge. He had been laying low to avoid detection, purposely going to the store and running other errands in the next town over. He hadn’t dared going into the town because he thought that he might accidentally run into one of the operatives, and he didn’t want MSAD to know that he was still nearby. However, when he had run out of eggs and bread that morning, he decided that he was just being paranoid and there was nothing for him to worry about. The chances of running into one of his old associates at the store of all places were next to zero.

Besides, gas prices were getting ridiculous.

Thus, with grocery list in hand, Nathan walked over to the local grocery store. It wasn’t long before he was regretting the decision, as he hadn’t been there five minutes before someone almost plowed him down with their cart. He put his hand out to catch it, but the woman managed to stop herself before the collision. The DJ snorted as he looked down at the blonde. "Sure," he stated flatly, just a little bit irritated by her airheadedness.

He couldn’t help cracking up when she hit him with that accent, however. It was obvious she didn’t have it when she first spoke, and he found the sudden change quite humorous. “Farther South than you, actually,” he said, purposely bringing out his own New Zealand accent. "Just moved here."

[Leila Gold]

He'd laughed at her accent, which at least meant he wasn't totally annoyed with her. It was a step in the right direction, though she suspected that he probably wouldn't be interested in anything more than a simple conversation. That was all right, she liked meeting people, anyway.

"Farther south, huh?" she said, leaving off the heavy Southern drawl and instead adopting her more familiar Texan accent, which wasn't as strong but still identifiable to anyone listening.

"You sound British, to me, which I guess means you're from Australia. Ever ridden a kangaroo to work?" She smiled to show she was joking. For all she knew some people were serious when they asked those kinds of questions.

Standing around in the supermarket was awkward, so she kept moving down the aisle, grabbing what she needed off the shelves. "If you're new in town, have you made a lot of new friends yet? Don't take this as an offer to help, mind, since I haven't done so well myself. I've been here a few months now, and all my friends are old g--er, men."

It probably wouldn't be smart to talk about the sexual orientation of most of her friends and acquaintances in front of somebody who she had just met. It was just natural for her to think of them that way, so it almost slipped out.

"Pilot Ridge is so small," she said in a pondering tone. "It sometimes amazes me how people are connected here, and then I start to miss some of the big cities I'm used to."

As she went, she made sure to keep her personal wind in check. It wasn't a smart idea to let it be known to the whole world that she was metahuman, but since she couldn't dismiss the slight breeze entirely, it blew gently from above, as though it were coming from a ceiling fan. Most people tended not to notice, especially since they weren't exactly looking. Vaguely she wondered if this man were a meta (may Uncle Josh never find out she used the term), since the concentration of them here seemed a bit high.

"I'm Leila, by the way," she said. "Leila Gold, Attorney. If you ever need legal advice, swing by the Blue and Gold Law Firm. But preferably don't go by at an odd time, when I might be out. My business associate tends toward the cranky."

[Nathanael Lee]

((Sorry about the delay, Penny. v.v I'm a failboat.))

Yes, her cute little display had him quickly forgiving her for the almost-incident. It wasn't like she had actually ran into him, anyway. No harm no foul.

Really, Nate wanted to keep his distance from the town--he didn't need to develop anymore attachments--but as socially deprived as he was, he was perfectly content to continue talking to this stranger. She was charming, and besides, casual conversation couldn't hurt. "Close. New Zealand, actually," he said with a smirk. "So no, I haven't had the pleasure."

Since she also continued to talk, Nate followed the woman as she traveled down the aisle. He answered her question as he filled in his own basket, "Unfortunately not. I haven't been here that long, though. Just a few weeks, and I've spent most of that time getting settled into my new house and job." That was true for the most part, which made making up an alias easier. He had paperwork and co-workers to back up his cover story, if it ever were to be questioned.

While Nathan had noticed her catch, he didn't openly comment on it. "I guess you can consider this a good opportunity to meet someone new, then." He didn't plan on making friends, no, but he figured it would be more out of place if he didn't say something about it.

"Mm," he quietly agreed, "It's different than what I'm use to, that's for sure." He was going to take it as a warning to be discreet, and avoid talking about himself. "Do you ever plan on going back to a larger city, then?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Leila. I'm Nathan." He held out his hand for a shake. Figures he would bump into one of the few lawyers in the entire town, although, as she already mentioned, it was a pretty small town. "I'll try to keep that in mind, if I ever need legal advice. I imagine that having such a deterrent as a associate is bad for business, though, particularly if you have to warn people about him." He followed up with a lighthearted chuckle to make it sound like he was joking and avoid offending her, but he did have a hunch that it was true. God knows he caused plenty of business problems for his medical partner all those years ago when people stopped coming to his clinic. That was a bit of a different story, considering the false accusations involved, but Nathan knew Abigail suffered just as much as he did because of it.

[Leila Gold]

[It's not a big deal. And you're not a failboat--none of my buddies are failboats.]

"It's hard settling in sometimes. It took me a month before I felt like I was part of the town. And I was lucky--I'd already settled into my job." She gave a little laugh.

"I do like the opportunity to meet new people. You never know who you're going to run into, and some of the most interesting people can appear as just normal individuals you meet in a supermarket. For example, giant gardeners with a jolly disposition. True story, actually." And yes, it had been this same store where she'd run into Riley. Small world, even smaller town, and a ridiculously tiny food market.

"Eventually I hope to move somewhere bigger. I'm here with my partner working for a specific cause, but I'm not so sure I could ever stay in Pilot Ridge. I miss Chicago, actually, and I really miss Texas sometimes. What about you? Ever miss your homeland?"

She took his hand and shook. "Nathan, huh? I'll try to remember that, though I'm afraid I'm not particularly good with names. And hopefully you won't ever need to employ me--I'm afraid the legal system here is particularly messy." She did have to laugh when he talked about Cobalt. "Yeah, Blue's not the best of partners, and I have a feeling he drives away some customers. But I'll tell you this, he's a darn good lawyer, and there's no one I'd rather have helping me learn the ropes. Just stay on his good side, give him lots of chocolate and coffee, and there is nothing to worry about. Unlike some lawyers, who are just plain heartless the whole way through." She frowned at this.

"But enough about me. What kind of work do you do? You mentioned you're settling into your job?" As she turned, she tripped and tottered forward, about to fall. "Woah," she said, flinging out her arms and waving wildly. Inwardly, she cursed herself for being so clumsy.

[Event !]

Thank you for participating. This event is now closed.